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| Southeast Asia |
| JI trained hundreds of men in Philippines camp |
| 2003-11-21 |
| The Jemaah Islamiah (JI) terror group maintains a training camp in the southern Philippines and is protected by some Muslim separatist rebels, officials here said. Tap, tap, tap ... there goes my surprise meter. The deputy armed forces chief, Lieutenant-General Rodolfo Garcia, said a captured Indonesian militant had confessed that hundreds of JI recruits had trained at Camp Jabal Qubah since it was established three years ago. That would tend to imply that there are more than just "dozens" of folks being trained there, would it not? The camp is located in dense jungles on Mount Cararao in Maguindanao province, a stronghold of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). The rebels have been staging an armed campaign for an Islamic state in the south. It recently renounced terrorism, sealed a ceasefire with Manila and is seeking to reopen peace talks. Or so they say till they break it again ... Taufiq Rifqi, whom security officials identified as JI’s treasurer and logistics chief in the Philippines, said under investigation that the JI camp was set up after a JI training site within the main MILF camp was overrun by government forces in mid-2000. ’He mentioned that some elements of the MILF served as escorts or guides for the JI members through the area, to provide them with protection and training weapons. ’Some commanders have protected them but maybe not the organisation,’ Lt-Gen Garcia told The Straits Times. But I suspect the latter of the two ... Rifqi was arrested in the southern city of Cotabato early last month and is being interrogated by the Philippine military. Intelligence sources said information unearthed recently about the activities of JI, the South-east Asian front of the Al-Qaeda terror network, prompted President Gloria Arroyo to declare the militant group the main national security threat last month. ’Operationally, they are now on top of our list,’ she said. Government forces are also battling the communist New Peoples Army, the MILF and the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom group. The government has passed on to the MILF a list of names of terrorists and MILF commanders who supposedly protect them. General Garcia said the MILF had pledged that the named JI members would not be given sanctuary by the group, but it denied that any of its commanders gave protection to the terrorist suspects. "Lies! All lies!" |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 They already had a splinter group - it was called Abu Sayyaf. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2003-11-21 9:54:22 AM |
| #3 Anon, A 'splinter group'? How convienant to have deniability by calling it a 'splinter group'. And if the MILF does reach a peace settlement how much you want to bet they will form another 'splinter group' to continue conducting JI training? Unfortunately the Philippine President is so hard-up for credibility that she will agree to just about anything. |
| Posted by: Anon B 2003-11-21 9:13:08 AM |
| #2 With a name like MILF, they've already lost the war. |
| Posted by: RussSchultz 2003-11-21 8:40:57 AM |
| #1 The MILF is currently negotiating "peace" talks with the Philippine government. My sources tell me they are close to an agreement. The problem they are faced with is the small splinter groups of the MILF. If an agreement is met between the MILF and the government these splinter groups are going to find themselves in a world of hurt. I can say no more without betraying sensitive information and sources. Do not change that dial. (I usually post and comment under a different name.) |
| Posted by: Anon 2003-11-21 7:30:00 AM |